Archive – Räikkönen in 2003: “I know what it takes to one day be world champion”

On the occasion of retirement announced by Kimi Räikkönen at the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season, AUTOhebdo offers you one of the first interviews with the Finn in our columns, published at the start of the 2003 season.

A young Brazilian drives the storm at the wheel of a modest Toleman to reveal himself on the international scene against the benchmark Alain Prost during the 1984 Monaco GP. A young German rides the Ardennes slide at the controls of his equally modest Jordan during the 1991 Belgian GP. It is like that GPs which remain forever engraved in the memories, pivotal GPs which begin a cycle. Today, in view of the last GPs of Malaysia and Brazil, we can safely say that the 2002 French GP, where it captured the imagination, will indeed have the same immortality. On these three occasions – and many others besides – Kimi more than ever lived up to his nickname of Iceman, awarded not without humor by his mechanics. A “drawer” nickname, to amicably rally his Nordic origins, to make fun of his verbal economy and, above all, to pay tribute to his prodigious composure. Ron Dennis can sleep soundly, his new protégé is just like his stable: cold